Tag: 2007

Reading

I had a great ‘reading-time’ this morning at a coffee shop and thought I’d share with you some of the amazing things that I came across…I am currently working (read::laboring and loving) my way through – God in Search of Man, by Abraham Heschel

“When the soul parts from the company of the ego and its retinue of petty conceits; when we cease to exploit all things but instead pray the world’s cry, the world’s sigh, our loneliness may hear the living grace beyond all power.”
• How was that for a warm up? Mmm…Corporate reality is too often missing in our narcissistic culture – what could this world look like if we truly entered into the cry and sighs of the world!!!

“We must first peer into the darkness, feel strangled and entombed in the hopelessness of living without God, before we are ready to feel the presence of His living light.”
• This seems so counter to what we would ‘want’ and/or ‘expect’ but it is so true…

“Israel is not a people of definers but a people of witnesses: ‘Ye are My witnesses’ (Isaiah 43.10).”
• This comes following a fairly long response as to how our ideas of ‘proving’ God actually miss the point of what our call is! What a great take – that we aren’t the proof providers of God rather we are the ongoing witness of His Manifestation in our lives – and in the lives of those around us! Mm-mm Good!

“We do not have to discover the world of faith; we only have to recover it…it is not an unknown land; it is a forgotten land.”
• One more facet of the redemptive nature of God and His creation…

“Just as clairvoyants may see the future, the religious man comes to sense the present moment. And this is an extreme achievement. For the present is the Presence of God. Things have a past and future, but only God is pure presence.”
• That is for all you existentialists out there!!! Hehe

“It is within man’s power to seek Him [God]; it is not within his power to find Him.”
• This is interesting – one I am going to chew on for a while!

“It is not easy to attain faith. A decision of the will, the desire to believe, will not secure it. All the days of our lives we must continue to deepen our sense of mystery in order to be worthy of attaining faith.”
• Ah – could this be the idea that Paul is referring when talking about ‘Working out one’s faith’?

“God is of no importance unless He is of supreme importance.”
• One of my favorite Heschel quotes – sounds Kierkegaardian

“God is not indifferent to man’s quest of Him. He is in need of man, in need of man’s share in redemption. God who created the world is not at home in the world, in its dark alleys of misery, callousness and defiance.”
• This is quite a provocative thought…

“The words, ‘I am a stranger on earth’ (Psalm 119.19), were interpreted to refer to God. God is a stranger in the world. The Shechinah, the presence of God, is in exile. Our task is to bring God back into the world, into our lives. To worship is to expand the presence of God in the world. To have faith in God is to reveal what is concealed.”
• Just building upon the previous quote…amazing perspective

Anyhow…just wanted to share some things that jumped out at me today… I’d love to hear your thoughts on these quotes and/or whatever it is that you are currently reading or pondering!